Throughout his campaign and following his inauguration, Donald Trump has insisted that Mexico will pay for the wall that will line the southern U.S. border. However, Senator Mitch McConnell isn’t convinced. When Politico asked the Senate Majority Leader if he truly believed that Mexico would foot the bill, he responded by saying “Uh, no.”
McConnell’s blunt statement comes as a surprise, since the GOP hasn’t wavered much from Trump on the issue of who will pay. The reported $15 billion price tag seems to be detractors’ main gripe, along with the inevitability of a strained relationship with Mexico. However, McConnell is in favor of border security, just not to the extent Trump wants:
“I’m in favor of border security. There are some places along the border where that’s probably not the best way to secure the border. But I think [Homeland Security Secretary] Gen. John Kelly knows what he’s doing .. and my suspicion is we’ll take his advice.”
The border wall was a keystone of Trump’s campaign, but it remains to be seen who’s paying for the structure and whether Mexico’s pushback includes a refusal to pay back the cost, as Trump believes they will do. But Trump is already cutting agencies’ budgets to fund the wall, so the American taxpayers will feel the crunch no matter what.
(Via Politico)